‘Faustina’ live drama brings a message of mercy

Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2014 5:30 a.m. CDT

"Faustina: Messenger of Divine Mercy," the live theatrical one-woman drama performed by actress Maria Vargo and directed by Leonardo Defilippis of Saint Luke Productions, will be presented at St. Mary Catholic Church in DeKalb.

The performance will be at 6:30 p.m. April 9. Admission costs $10 each or $45 for a family of five or more. The production runs 90 minutes, and is suitable for ages 12 and older.

In "Faustina: Messenger of Divine Mercy," audiences experience firsthand the spirit and life of Polish mystic Saint Faustina, whose personal encounters with Jesus have inspired a worldwide devotion to Christ’s Divine Mercy. A parallel modern story within the drama offers audiences a personal connection to the current moral issues of our times.

Faustina Kowalska was born Helena Kowalska in 1905, into a large peasant family in Poland. She really had no potential for greatness – a poor girl, destined to be a housekeeper, with no education or prospects. Yet she longed for God, and despite the protests of her parents, and after a vision of Jesus telling her to head for Warsaw and become a nun, she secretly hopped on a train. Upon reaching the city, she knocked on the doors of convents until The Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy finally took a chance on this young girl, and let her in. As a nun she took the name Sister Maria Faustina, and spent the rest of her life doing menial work as a cook and as a gardener.

In 1930, the mystical visions started for the young nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska. Jesus appeared to her in a white garment, with rays of white and red light emanating from near His heart. He asked her to paint His image, with the message, “Jesus, I trust in You” across the bottom. That was the beginning of a very special mission that took years to develop into a powerful devotion for the Church – the Divine Mercy.

Jesus continued to speak through Sister Faustina, with an urgent message for our times, and He gave her a special prayer, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which spread throughout the world like wildfire. Faustina continued to keep a diary of her visions, until she died of tuberculosis in 1938.